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LOS ANGELES : Thousands of fans are expected to join in celebrations of the 30th anniversary Friday of "Star Wars," the film that revolutionized the movie industry and the first hit in director George Lucas' enormously lucrative franchise.
The original "Star Wars," one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, had a modest opening in just 32 theatres across North America on May 25, 1977, including at Hollywood's famous Grauman's Chinese Theater.
The science fiction movie quickly became a monster hit, and Lucas released two enormously successful sequels: "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980, and "Return of the Jedi" in 1983.
After a 16-year break he produced and released three "prequels": "The Phantom Menace" in 1999, "Attack of the Clones" in 2002, and "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005, all recounting the story leading up to the original movies.
The movies broke new ground in film special effects, but are best known for being the first to rake in a fortune in movie-related merchandise products.
"Star Wars" spawned a cottage industry of spin-off television series, books, comics, video games, toys and other merchandise. Forbes magazine estimated in 2005 the franchise has generated as much as 20 billion dollars in revenues over the past three decades.
In Los Angeles a giant "Star Wars" celebration, the fourth of its kind, runs through Sunday at the city's Convention Center. Organizers said they were expecting 10,000 visitors each day.
On the first day at the event thousands gathered to sit through a screening of all six "Star Wars" films -- 17 hours in all. Many were dressed as their favorite characters.
Special 30th anniversary items on sale at the Convention Center event include figurines of the robots R2D2 and CP3O, new posters, bibs for babies, and Teddy bear-style Ewok dolls, based on the fuzzy creatures that appear in the 1983 movie.
The most recent movie in the series raked in 850 million dollars in box office receipts worldwide.
Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of this city of four million -- the second most populous in the United States -- even proclaimed Friday as "Star Wars Day."
The US Postal Service (USPS) is marking the anniversary by selling a limited number of stamps with pictures from the six movies, including Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and the feisty robot R2D2.
The collection of 15 stamps includes scenes from all six movies of the series. Each stamp is worth 41 cents, the minimum cost of mailing a basic letter.
Fans can also vote on the USPS website and pick their favorite stamp of the series. The winner will be re-issued at mid-year as an individual stamp.
In early March the USPS also announced that some 400 mailboxes across the United States would be made up to look like R2D2, the stubby robot that appears in all six of the "Star Wars" movies.
- AFP /ls
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